Indian national team hockey player Varun Kumar, 28, has been booked by the city police for rape and cheating under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, for allegedly sexually assaulting a 17-year-old minor girl in 2019.
Mr. Kumar is an Arjuna awardee and was part of the Indian team that won the gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023. He has 141 senior caps and is also a 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games silver medallist.
The complainant, now an airline staffer, was being trained for volleyball at a Sports Authority of India facility in Bengaluru when she reportedly met Mr. Kumar. In her complaint, she said that Mr. Kumar had befriended her on social media and wanted to meet her in person.
